Italian Psychology and Jewish Emigration under Fascism / Italian and Italian American Studies (PDF)

examination of archival materials from several repositories (in Italy, the USA, the UK and Israel), and especially the files of the refugee scholars’ assistance societies. It certainly casts new light on enraging episodes of academic persecutions about which we knew very little until now.” (Simone Turchetti, Social History of Medicine, 2017)

“Guarnieri recreates with rigor and passion an entire environment inhabited by scholars and politicians, men of the institutions and scientists, whose lives were crossed by the regime. She succeeds in bringing to light displaced scholars, forgotten stories of women and men, against the backdrop of Fascism.” (Elena Canadelli, European Yearbook of the History of Psychology, Issue 3, 2017)

“Patrizia Guarnieri has produced an account that challenges many euphemisms, omissions, errors, and lies frequently found in histories of Italian psychology written long after the fascist era had ended. … Guarnieri’s study contributes to a growing literature reconsidering the impact of fascism on disciplinary structures and practices … . she has contributed to a comparative analysis of the relationship between political power and the construction of knowledge.” (Leila Zenderland, Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Vol. 91 (2), 2017)

“Drawing upon an impressive amount of primary sources--which include coeval psychology journals and publications as well as manuscripts from private papers and archival repositories in Italy, the United States, England, and Israel--Guarnieri investigates how Benito Mussolini’s regime affected the field of psychology in Italy. … Overall, Bonaventura’s and Calabresi’s vicissitudes cast further light on the lot of both the exiles fleeing dictatorships and the Jews who had been the victims of fascist anti-Semitism.” (Stefano Luconi, H-Italy, H-Net Reviews, networks.h-net.org, September, 2016)

“This is a book packed to the brim with interesting material for further study … . It is intensely multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary – touching not just on psychology, but also on social history, trans-national history, cultural studies, Jewish studies, politics and memory. … book sheds light not just on the history of academic psychology in Italy, but also on a complicated and painful past which has remained hidden for some time. In that sense, it is a brave and important book.” (John Foot, History of the Human Sciences, histhum.com, July, 2016)

“One of the most thoughtful books by Patrizia Guarnieri … . In detail, the author reconstructs the Italian and international relations and networks that supported Jewish researchers who were persecuted by Nazism and fascism (e.g., Emergency Committee in Aid of Displaced Foreign Scholars, Society for the Protection of Science and Learning, London), focusing on the personal stories of Bonaventura and Calabresi.” (Renato Foschi, Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, Vol. 52 (3), 2016)